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by Eireann



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 05:11:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5116778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eireann/pseuds/Eireann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Enterprise, Hoshi is about to be shown her new home.</p>
            </blockquote>





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**Author's Note:**

> Star Trek and all its intellectual property belongs to Paramount/CBS. No infringement intended, no profit made.
> 
> This story has not been beta-read, so any mistakes in it are mine.
> 
> This story is a follow-up of sorts to my earlier 'New Dawn', and refers to the home mentioned in 'Fur and Fathers', which was posted on Fanfiction.net (but not here, as it's not strictly Reed-centric).
> 
> It will probably come as an awful shock to my readers, who are probably convinced by now that I am incapable of writing any story in which Malcolm Reed is not put through the emotional wringer. It can be done, and here it is. I should probably add a health warning for excess fluff. You have been warned.

“Open your eyes, love.”

For just a moment, Hoshi sat completely still. She wanted to treasure the moment, to hold it in her memory.

It wasn’t that she was afraid, though she was certainly nervous. And she could tell from the sub-tones of her new husband’s voice that he was even more nervous. So much suppressed excitement and so much anxiety, even a woman with far less acute hearing than hers could have heard it; and considering that this was to be their home, she could understand it.

Her husband. Their home. Both concepts that were so new to them. The house, of course, was not new to him; he owned it. And loved it, that much was clear, so that his offer – one of absolute sincerity – to sell or rent it out if she didn’t like it had touched her to the heart, and she was determined to find it wonderful if it should turn out to be the veriest hovel.

Not that she was afraid of that. From their flat in San Francisco he’d made arrangements with a local builder to have various improvements made, and occasionally flown over to inspect progress in person, leaving her in the US. He wanted to have it exactly perfect before bringing his bride to it, and Hoshi had smiled to herself at this hitherto well hidden streak of romance in her husband. He reminded her of a bower-bird, determined to have every leaf, berry and feather exactly in place before ushering in a hen to admire it; and it had become something of a joke between them, to the point where on his return from one of his periodic visits he would announce his arrival with a liquid burst of whistled birdsong.

It had taken some six months before the house was completed to his satisfaction. He’d made one last visit alone and then returned to fetch her. All through the flight across the Atlantic he’d been tense, and on the short connecting flight into Cornwall he’d been ten times worse. If she hadn’t known that he was so wound up by now that he’d have taken instant umbrage, she’d have offered to drive the hired flitter from the airport herself. However, she knew when to keep her mouth shut, and discovered that tension didn’t make her husband a reckless driver but rather a swift and very precise one.

He knew these lanes, that was clear: once they were clear of the town it was surprising how quickly the roads became small and twisting, many sunk between banks of hedgerow that showed them to be thousands of years old. ‘Holloways’, he called them, thick with bluebells where the woods crowded close. The early May sunshine pried through the clouds that had been low when the plane landed and touched the new green leaves into a thousand shades of brilliance. The quiet sibilance of the flitter engine had been the only thing that disturbed the hush, other than the birdsong, which seemed to be a part of the silence and not in any way an opposition to it.

After a few miles: “Close your eyes,” he’d said quietly. She’d taken one eager look around, getting the first sense of where her new home lay: in a valley, deeply secluded, that already held a sense of haven. Then she’d shut her eyes obediently and lay back, concentrating. Half a kilometre further on the flitter had turned left, presumably into the entrance to the drive. This wasn’t long, but then she wasn’t expecting him to own a mansion with its own deer-park. Then, finally, the vehicle came to a halt and she heard its driver draw in a deep, shaky breath.

“Open your eyes, love.”

He hadn’t sounded a twentieth this nervous when he was facing down hostile aliens in deep space. She wanted to take hold of his face and kiss his anxieties away and tell him she already loved the house because he did. She knew that wasn’t what he wanted, though, so on an indrawn breath of her own that wasn’t as steady as she’d have liked it to be, she obeyed.

The house nestled at the head of a valley – at either side the high ground closed in protectively. The drive by which they’d approached ran between immaculately mown lawns, enclosed by a dry-stone wall. Considering he’d always referred to it as ‘the cottage’ she’d expected it to be tiny, but it wasn’t; it was a full-sized house, and at a guess, it had three or four bedrooms. It was made of the local pale stone, and looked very old, as though it had long grown comfortably into the landscape. The windows were criss-crossed with leading, and a couple of those upstairs stood open, letting in the sweet morning air. She already knew that Malcolm had engaged a local woman to act as housekeeper for them, since there would be much time when duty took them to San Francisco, and wondered with a spurt of inner, loving laughter whether her husband had issued orders that this personage should bob respectfully whenever she encountered the Lady of the House. It didn’t seem entirely out of the question.

She opened her mouth to express her delight, and then realised just in time that this would be premature. He would want a considered opinion after she’d seen all over the house, and wouldn’t be content until he had it. With something of an effort, she kept her face calm and noncommittal as she got out of the flitter, and stood looking around herself as one carefully weighing up every consideration.

The key was under the coir doormat. He picked it up and handed it to her wordlessly. She fitted it into the keyhole and it turned smoothly, but before she could push the door he picked her up, holding her as though she were weightless. “You don’t know how often I’ve dreamed of this,” he said in a low voice, and pushed the door open with his knee to carry her across the threshold.

She found herself in the hallway, floored with polished oak, with more beams of it set across the ceiling. Vases of roses glowed against cool white plastering, and a wooden stairway led upwards directly opposite the door. At the turn of it was a window, one of those that had been left open; another vase on the windowsill testified to the thickness of the sheltering walls.

He set her down gently, and allowed her to take the lead in her exploration, saying nothing as she opened doors and cupboards, inspecting her new kingdom. In keeping with its environment and its age, most of the furnishings were of pine, spare and sturdy. There were few decorations, though above the mantelpiece in the lounge was a marvellous painting of _Enterprise_ (“Because it brought me you.”) The kitchen was beautifully fitted up, even down to the spice racks, and faced across the back garden, which was small and neat, with a path between more lawns and flowerbeds that ran to a gate into a tiny orchard.

Upstairs. She paused on the sunny landing, and chose a door at random. She’d expected a bedroom, but it was a study, looking down the valley; a lovely, light room, full of bookshelves crowded with volumes of every shape and size, some of which looked very old indeed. Aware that she was being closely and anxiously studied at every step, she gazed around judiciously, and left the room without comment.

The next was a guest bedroom. Light and airy, with a double bed, and furnishings in a buttery yellow that would have lit the room even without the assistance of the sunlight through the window.

Next was another guest bedroom, somewhat smaller, in powder blue. This one had only a single bed. A third bedroom, of the same size, was cream-coloured and had no bed at all, though a vacant space was strongly suggestive of what its owner hoped might be wanted there someday. She had hold of his hand by now, and squeezed it, sharing the same silent hope.

The bathroom. Shades of terracotta, with a shower cubicle and a large, free-standing bath, amply big enough for two. A lingering shared glance promised that that option would be explored very shortly.

That left...

She pushed open the door with a faint, foolish sense of trepidation. When everything else had been done with such taste and subtlety, this would not disappoint her; not the room where she and her husband would be just Malcolm and Hoshi, hopefully for many happy years.

It did not disappoint. The bed was pine, like the furniture, and spread with shining ivory damask to match the heavy curtains. Huge leaded windows on two sides looked across and up the valley, one over the orchard that would be a sea of blossom in the spring and up to the springing heights of the fells above, and the other commanding a view of the front garden and the sunlit woods beyond that hid the road.

Just to prolong his agony, she solemnly opened the wardrobes and went to look through the windows. Then she turned to look at him. He was standing silently at the foot of the bed, waiting.

“You’ve brought me home, Malcolm,” she said simply. “I’ve been waiting to come here all these years, and I never knew it.”

He crossed the space towards her. His hand slid gently up the side of her face. “That’s all I needed to hear, love.”

And then he kissed her.

 

**The End....**

**Author's Note:**

> If you have enjoyed it and not choked to death with the shock, I'd appreciate a review! :D


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